Knee Again?!

Another reminder that good health, or injury-free riding, is not to be taken lightly; it is a fragile thing.

This earnest young cyclist put too much effort into a technical climb, today, on Milagrosa ridge. We were climbing the trail (backwards, as it is never ridden), and I was attempting a particularly nasty section.

My front wheel held when I thought it was free. My legs and rear wheel spun. With no where to go, my forward momentum brought my left knee to its only conclusion: hello handlebars, shifters, and, pain.

I do this sort of thing somewhat regularly. Incidents like this were part of endless grief, otherwise known as, my life without cycling and with knee pain.

I probably should have turned around, cutting the ride short. But, it was too nice outside and I was still feeling like I could climb anything. I knew that the descent was going to consist of a lot of coasting and smiling, facing a nice sunset. So I kept going and it felt okay for a while, then worse.

Near the top I recognized a very familiar and frightening pain on my inner knee. I thought I was in for it again.

Back home, I iced and ibuprofen’d up. We’ll see.

My current theory is that after a whack of this proportion (small ones don’t phase me), I simply need to stay off ANY bike, even commuter for a few days.

My knee problems relapsed last spring after a very similar whack (on the same trail), but I rode to school and back immediately after, and the next day. The next day riding back was very painful and put me out for a while.

In other news, I presented my mini-probabilistic model for the rec class. It was very informal and I actually enjoyed giving the talk. I’m starting to get more comfortable at this sort of thing, but it’s never going to be easy. It really helps to be speaking on something that you care about and enjoy.